Week 6, the power of 3D

 This week was harder.  As I sat with the discomfort and sadness of it all, I began reflecting and thinking deeply about what I need to maintain sanity through all this.  There are many things that came to mind, but what stuck out the most this week was the lack of connection in seeing people.  Zoom, facetime, phones, text have been a lifesaver. But the inability to actually see humans, especially friends and family, is challenging.   

I asked the kids this week if it was harder and they instantly replied no.  All of them, unanimously said no.  I was shocked.  They listed things they are grateful for given the circumstances.   Maybe I was projecting my feelings too much on them.   

While I felt like the week was more challenging, sadder, and generally harder, when I look back at photos as always, it wasn't so bad.  There were smiles, laughter, yummy food, and happy kids.  The ups and downs are normal, I know.  Not easy, but normal.  I am trying to just accept the different feelings that come up through this and sit with them, knowing everything is temporary.

Each picture brings a memory and with that emotions and feelings.  The first picture that came up for me was the start of the week.  A socially distanced happy hour with two good friends (one left by the time we took the picture).  Though we had to stay far apart, bring our own chairs and drinks, dress for the chilly weather and not hug each other, it was so nice to see friends in 3D.  The morning after this, B's beloved teacher Alicia came by for a socially distanced surprise hello.  She and the kids stayed in the car and we stayed on our front lawn.
The power of people in 3D is real.   I am learning, we all are learning, from this and this week was an eye opener that seeing people in 3D is necessary to my happiness.   While I cannot achieve this in the same way as before, I am realizing that I do need to seek it out in whatever way may be possible.  Whether it is the occasional socially distanced happy our, chatting with neighbors who happen to be outside when we are, or going for long walks in the afternoons seeing other humans and talking with a friend by phone.

B's love for science continued with sorting and learning about bugs and experimenting with color.

  

 B is not our most adventurous eater, but honestly its not a fight I am willing to fight at this point in time.  He eats tons of fruit and vegetables, grains and enough protein that I am OK with it.  On the flip side, he also is quite picky about sugar.  We made chocolate chip cookies this week and he refuses those as well.  It all balances itself out.  

Above, I tried a muffin tin meal one night where each cup was filled with something healthy and colorful.  

 Our walking rainbow was a bust.  Probably because I buy food coloring made from plants.  

 I couldn't find B the other day for snuggle and story time.  I had gotten to the point where I thought he might have gone outside alone when I found him quietly watching his brothers online piano lesson.  He sat there for most of the 30 minutes, silently watching.

 A made a pretty fun obstacle course in our backyard one day.  Its amazing what he was able to do with such a small space.  

 B built many "statues" out of duplos.

 And this morning Brian took a peloton class at the same time as some friends to celebrate one of their 300th rides.  It was at the same time as an online zoom workout I was doing so I gave the kids all the boxes and toilet paper towel rolls we had and told them to build a marble run.  Its now 3 PM and they are still going strong.  The collaboration and team work has been remarkable.

 Prior to quarantine, our kids had gotten into a place where they argued a lot.  Probably from being stressed and busy.  Over these 5 weeks, we have seen a slow but promising change.  They work and play together, encourage each other more and are generally happier and more helpful to us and for each other.  I am so grateful they have each other and that we have multiple kids to play with each other. 

Week 5

The purpose of this blog is to remember.  Remember the good.  Remember the bad.  Remember the beautiful, challenging, scary parts of life as we raise children. I know for a fact that this time will become blurry in time.  The challenging will become less "hard" in my mind.  The good will take precedence.  

 Its hard to get into any "normal" routine with things changing constantly.  Wear a mask, stay home, don't go out unless necessary, snowy days, school days... constant change and uncertainty.  While I cannot, with confidence, say we have a routine, we have some predictable things (at least now).  Saturday and Monday mornings, a friend of a friend teaches HIIT classes on zoom that are excruciatingly hard and yet a part of this quarantine life for us.  Saturday is at 10, easy.  All the boys are up, and typically have had breakfast.  Its a no school day and therefore a jammy and extra screen day.  Monday, the class is at 7:30.  More challenging.  I have to set up activities (self directed, easy to follow, fun, engaging activities) for B to do while we work out.  Next to the activities is an easy to eat breakfast.  He's not predictable with his wake up time and the older kids are never awake by 7:30.  With a reminder the night before, he has been pretty good about getting up and starting his day while we workout.  He has woken up at 8 each Monday, leaving only 20-25 minutes to entertain himself and eat.  Its a lot of work for Brian and I, but well worth a good workout and time for ourselves.

Bs amazing teacher, Alicia, provides a pretty structured 50 minute google video Monday-Friday.  One kid gets to share each day, she reads stories and they play a game together.  Some days are better than others.  

Everyone under the moon is providing online options.  From the zoo, to museums to Michelle Obama.  Its overwhelmingly perfect in so many ways.  One option is watching the head of Stanley read a book.  

Legos... what our lives would be like without these.  I could take a few less strewed around the house, but its worth the creative and endless discoveries and inventing.  

Brian can attest to my constant search for fun things we can do as a family, at home.  A friend of Brian's suggested "Hunt a Killer" a monthly subscription that comes in a box full of forensic clues.  Each month gives a challenge you need to uncover, revealing your answer to someone through email who then verifies whether your "work" has been done.  LT took a forensics class last fall and I was jealous.  There are many things I considered doing, one of which was a detective (others included a jail guard, sumo wrestler, farmer, dietician etc).  I am not sure any of those would have been perfect careers for me, but I sure do love true crime podcasts and investigating.  This kit, however, was pretty challenging.  More than we anticipated.  I thought the older kids and I could do it on Friday afternoons together, pretty quickly.  We realized we needed to rope Brian (not happily) into this investigating.

 B loves science.  Several times a day he asks for a science experiment.  On a snowy day this week, we watched a few scholastic videos about germs (and a story bots a few days before that).  We did a fun experiment learning about the importance of using soap.  In the middle of it he announced that he was going to "marry you mom (unless you die), and become a scientist".

 Geronimo Stilton.  So many memories with LT!  B recently discovered these books and we plowed through the ones we had.  I mentioned it to a friend who then dropped off a bag of them!  B searched them and picked the one up in his hand and said, "how did she ever know this was my favorite and I want it so bad!?"

 SNOW!  Love/hate relationship.   Endless cold.  More inside time.  More mess.  More gear.  Endless fun.

 They began with a race course around the front yard and then proceeded to make an actual track.

 Before long, they announced that it was the windows 10 symbol and B was the manager sitting in his office.  

 I have brought back my knowledge of preschool and the importance of writing from different angles.  Above, sticker match connection.

 Daily drawing still.

 And a few pictures to remind myself of how much cleaning up is required when your 3 children are home all day everyday.

self-isolation ain't no vacation

Despite the title it's important to acknowledge, during this unprecedented time, just how lucky we really are. Undoubtedly this social isolation thing has brought its share of challenges and adjustments. It's not easy and it'd be disingenuous if I said otherwise. But we are truly privileged and I'm profoundly grateful for all that we do have and are able to do during this time. I have a (hopefully) secure job that's able accommodate working from home relatively well. And Kar is doing an incredible job bringing some much needed structure and quality activities to our days at home. We are able to get food. And coffee. And wine. And bubble water. We happened to have a Costco sized pack of toilet paper and a decent stash of cleaning products in the basement going into this. We've had our ups and downs but mostly we're doing okay. Here's a look at some moments from the first five weeks or so of social distancing. 

Science (designed by mom) is a hit.

Squirting the fire with water spray bottles was an even bigger hit.

Throwing the ol' rock around has become one of the goto outside activities.

This was taken from my computer's camera during one of the first days of everyone being at home all the time. I was trying to respond to a work email. He was trying to print coloring book pages. You can see how well it was working out for both of us.

Reading outside by the fire.

Morning online preschool checkin.

With three brothers we've of course still got our share of sibling bickering. But the brotherly love and friendships seemed to have blossomed some in the midst of it all too.

Drawing and "take a picture of it, Daddy". 

More science.

It's somewhat hard to even write this now but I want to have some record of it in our little family history. We adopted this sweet dog but not long after getting home with her B started having a pretty bad allergic reaction. LT and Kar have some more mild allergies but have lived with pets previously and been able to make it work. B's the only one in the family that's never lived with a pet. He has had a few pretty bad reactions at friends' houses with pets but also many times that haven't been a problem. I think we kinda talked ourselves into thinking the previous reactions were something else and that he'd be fine with a dog at home. But we were wrong. And we reluctantly had to take this sweet girl back to her foster family the very same day we brought her home. They were kind and understanding about it all but it was still a difficult and disappointing experience for everyone.

More of that brotherly love.

The first day we would have otherwise been in Mexico for spring break B decided to dress himself in a swimsuit and sandals. 

Screen time (or "scream time" as B calls it) can be together time too.

Trimming the grass with scissors.

Christmas slippers?

Ads prepping vegetables while helping make dinner one night.

One of the new responsibilities around the house for all the kids is after dinner clean up.

Still need a little work on emptying the dishwasher.

Movie night.

We've had to get a little creative with homebound workouts and it turns out that peanut butter jars work okay as yoga blocks.

And also as small hand weights

Charmander has done a few Peloton classes.

A run in the park. 

Family Just Dance party. B declared himself the winner, of course.

Another morning online preschool checkin.

One of the many many projects or activities these lucky boys have gotten from their mother.

Brothers.

S'mores!

Brothers.

Every single meal is at home now. And special dinners are contactless delivery or curbside pickup. There's no cooking but still dishes and cleanup. 

Of course the trampoline has gotten some good use. I've only shoveled snow off of it twice so far.